


Scars

by Danger_Floof_Floof



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Byleth gives Claude love, Claude needs a hug, Dimitri is only mentioned, M/M, Scarred Claude
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-25
Updated: 2019-08-25
Packaged: 2020-09-26 14:15:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20391043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Danger_Floof_Floof/pseuds/Danger_Floof_Floof
Summary: The thing about scars,Is they all start to fade,Until nothing is left.Of the cuts that were made,The thing about today,Is there’s always tomorrow,And if you can’t find your smile,I have one you can borrow.





	Scars

**Author's Note:**

> This was a piece I wrote for someone in the MaleBylethxClaude discord :)  
I like how it turned out

Byleth doesn’t have to search for Claude for too long after the battle. Predictably, he finds him in his room, where he is taking off his cape and gloves, his movement a little stiff.

Claude had been careless during battle, taking risks that he would normally chide others for doing. It worried Byleth to the point where he had almost missed his shot after glancing at him to see if he was alright. Claude had laughed about it when Byleth approached him after the battle and had seen the tears in his clothes. The sight of blood on his sleeves and sides worried him further but Claude had waved it off, saying it wasn’t a serious wound and only needed to be cleaned.

Shortly after returning back to Garreg Mach, Claude had vanished and Byleth’s worry steadily grew.

Now, as he peeked into Claude’s room, he could see he was fine and some of the tension seeped out. He was about to call out to Claude but the words died in his throat as soon as Claude peeled off his shirt, tossing it on the wooden chair.

Byleth had seen Claude shirtless before, there had been times when Claude had sustained a wound on the battlefield and he had to remove his shirt to take it look at it but those times had all been in the dark where Byleth didn’t have a clear sight of him. Now, Byleth was able to see the muscles of Claude’s back clearly as well as the many  _ many  _ scars.

There were scars covering a good majority of Claude’s back. Some were small, others stretched to nearly half his back. Byleth was no stranger to scars, he had some of his own but some of the scars he could see looked painful.

He steps inside the room, closing the door behind him with an audible creak that alerts Claude of his presence. Claude stops dead in his tracks, eyes widened for a fracture of a second before relaxing. He smiles and walks over to his desk where he reaches in the drawer and pulls out a small cloth. 

Byleth spots the bowl of water resting on the floor beside his bed and makes up his mind. He walks over and gently takes the rag from Claude’s hands. Claude doesn’t protest but instead sits on the edge of his bed, accepting Byleth’s silent request to clean the dirt and grim from his wounds for him.

Byleth removes his own gloves and dips the cloth in the water, wringing it and bringing it up to Claude’s right arm first. 

He isn’t sure what he wants to say, probably that he is glad to see Claude is fine, but his thoughts slide away and he finds himself staring at the tan skin. He finds a telltale scar on his bicep that looks suspiciously like a wound from an axe. It looks a few years old and when Byleth runs the cloth over it, Claude stiffens.

“I’m sorry,” Byleth says quietly, switching to the next arm. 

Claude doesn’t say anything and when Byleth glances at his face, the archer’s eyes are downcast, staring at something that isn’t really there.

When his left arm is done, he moves on to Claude’s shoulders. There’s a cut on the trapezius muscle where it looks like an arrow must have grazed him. It isn’t a deep cut but there is still some blood there. Byleth cleans it up.

“You should be more careful,” Byleth chides him softly.

Claude smiles, tired and worn out. “Sorry, my friend.”

Byleth continues his work until he reaches his back. He asks Claude to sit on the floor so he can clean it without having to climb on his bed and Claude complies. 

Byleth has already seen some of his scars from afar but up close, they looked worse. Byleth could see scars from stab wounds, scratches, and burns. Some were very old, most a few years recent, others a few weeks recently. Byleth’s heart ached to see the many scars etched into Claude’s tan skin. 

He must have been staring for too long because Claude cleared his throat and asked if he was alright.

“I’m fine,” Byleth quickly assured. “I was just unaware of how much scars you had. Some of them look recent.”

“I am a seasoned warrior,” Claude teased lightly but he quickly sobered. “I haven’t had the easiest life. I’m sure I mentioned this to you sometime in the past but I wasn’t exactly wanted around by some people while growing up. I’ve always been an outsider and these scars are just there to remind me of that.”

Byleth frowned. He recalled that conversation but he couldn’t imagine someone wanting to hurt Claude as a child for something he had no control over.

“I can tell which scars are the oldest,” Byleth mumbled, not really expecting Claude to hear, he said it more to himself but Claude heard it regardless.

Byleth wasn’t sure why he did it but he lifted his hand to run his fingers over the large burn that was the worst but the oldest from the map of scars on his back. He could feel Claude’s back muscles tighten at the contact so he ran his thumb over the scar to try and ease the tension away. After a few moments, it worked and Claude relaxed into his touch. 

“Mercy wasn’t something they considered for a child like me,” Claude mumbled sadly and Byleth felt something in his chest tighten.

Byleth’s fingers rested on the burn before he moved onto other scars, giving them a similar treatment until he had covered them all.

He moved onto Claude’s chest and wasn’t prepared for the sight he witnessed. There were fewer scars than on his back but these ones were so much worse. The one that worried him most was the one closest to his heart. It looked like the wound had come from a lance. 

Once again, Claude tensed but this time his hand shot up to grab Byleth’s arm before he could touch it. Byleth remained still, waiting for Claude to either push his hand away or allow him to continue his work.

There was a tense few moments of Claude staring at his hand and then, slowly, he released it and his hands dropped to his side.

Byleth slowly cleaned his chest, taking great care in not putting so much pressure to the lance wound near his heart. It was about a year old, maybe less, and it looked like the wound ran deep.

“Reunions never turn out well for me,” Claude chuckled tiredly, when Byleth’s eyes went back to the scar.

All at once, it made sense to Byleth who had given Claude this wound. He could think of one person who fought with a lance and had enough malice in them to do this to Claude. Only one who would have this effect on Claude.

A pained expression crossed over Claude’s face as he looked towards the ceiling, recalling the memory.

“I tried to make peace with him. I even went out of my way to meet with him in private. I was surprised that he even agreed to it but when we met, he only regarded me with a cold stare. There was still a flicker of hope in me that thought Dimitri would forget his mission of revenge and fight beside me but…” Claude trails off, putting a hand over the scar and closing his eyes. “I must have said something wrong because he pulled his weapon on me, threatened to kill me if I didn’t leave. He said the only reason I was still alive was because we were friends in the past. I guess it hurt to hear him say that and maybe I should have left but I insisted we were still friends, I insisted there was still redemption for him. That was when he attacked. I was so unprepared that I could only dodge just enough so his lance didn’t reach my heart. It hurt and my back hit the tree. Dimitri slowly pushed it in deeper and I thought I was a goner… until something flickered in Dimitri’s eyes— something akin to regret. He pulled the lance out and told me to leave. This time I didn’t hesitate, but that look of regret still haunts me.”

Byleth listens to Claude recite the memory and by the end of it, he can feel a hole in his heart slowly growing. To think that his students had ended this way in his absence…

The thought of Claude  _ trying  _ to bring them back together even after they killed and betrayed. Byleth wasn’t sure what the world had done to deserve someone as hopeful as Claude.

Claude is looking at him with a strange expression. He looks deeply unhappy with something and Byleth doesn’t know what to make of it but he wants to  _ help  _ Claude somehow. Claude had been through so much and has been so  _ alone  _ in his misery. Byleth knows Claude is ashamed of these scars but Byleth wants to desperately convince Claude otherwise. He wants to show him that these scars are not tallys to show how much he has failed but a story of how life tried so hard to shatter Claude but failed.

And then, without really thinking of the consequences, he places his hand over the scar like he has a perfect right to it and leans down to place a kiss on it. Claude jolts away, he looks panicked and so very  _ confused _ , as if he isn’t sure why anyone would show such affection to his scars. It breaks Byleth’s heart.

Byleth smiles at the archer and leans forward again to place another kiss on the scar.

Claude is slowly moving back until he is laying on the floor and Byleth follows him until he is hovering over him, delicate kisses raining down on scarred, tan skin.

“Byleth?” Claude whispers, afraid to speak any louder and ruin the moment.

Byleth watches his former student with a fond expression, waiting for him to realize that Byleth wants to do this. And when he finally does, he reaches up to bring Byleth down into an embrace, his face pressed against Byleth’s chest. It’s a little awkward with their position but Byleth will gladly stay like this for Claude. 

He presses a kiss on top of Claude’s head and feels Claude’s grip tighten. It makes the strings inside of him pull back in forth, fluttering and twisting.

“I don’t…” Claude starts, his voice muffled against Byleth’s chest.

“It’s alright,” Byleth shushes and his expression seems lighter, like he has reached a decision, and it turned out to be the only choice he could ever make. “I’m going to take care of you.”

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> More angst works to come soon probs cuz I can't get enough of that good stuff 🦌


End file.
